Religion News: Pastors call for fair taxes

Thursday

Sep 22, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 22, 2011 at 10:12 PM

Click the link below for the weekly Religion News on 75 pastors who signed a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, "A Biblical Walk through the Mass" by Dr. Edward Sri and more. Or check out related tiems.

More than 75 Protestant and Catholic leaders from Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania signed a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction recently, urging them to reject the anti-tax pledge they signed from Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform.

The anti-tax pledge would prevent increasing tax revenue, even by ending tax breaks for corporations and the richest Americans. The clergy say any plan to reduce the deficit should include increased tax revenue as well as responsible spending cuts that don’t harm the most vulnerable.

“The supercommittee has a real opportunity here to preserve the care of the least by spreading the tax burden to those who can better afford to pay. Unlike the rich, the poor and middle class put almost every penny they have back into the economy,” said Rev. Dr. Stephen Wayles with First Congregational United Church in Phoenix, Ariz.

The letter urges the senators and representatives to disavow their “allegiance to this irresponsible pledge and reaffirm [their] oath to represent all Americans, not simply the privileged few.”

People of faith have consistently advocated for budget and deficit measures that protect poor and vulnerable people. Thousands of pastors signed a statement reiterating the limits of charity and the critical role government must play.

“The current system as it stands is simply unjust,” said Father Bill Pickard with Northeast Pennsylvania Pax Christi in Scranton, Pa. “Refusal to raise revenue by implementing reasonable and necessary taxation on the most financially blessed people in our country is both bad policy and a moral outrage. We must embrace a fair, positive tax that puts common good over self-interest.”

- Sept. 22, 1601, the first Catholic priests of the newly established Christian Church in Japan, Sebastian Chimura and Aloysius Niabara, were ordained in their hometown of Nagasaki.

- Sept. 23, 1595, Spain launched an intensive missionary campaign in what is now American Southeast. During the next two years, about 1,500 Indians were converted to the Catholic faith.

-- William D. Blake, Almanac of the Christian Church

Survey Says

About one-third of those who oppose the death penalty (32 percent) cite religion as the top influence on their views, compared with 13 percent among those who favor it. Here's a breakdown by religion of those in favor of capital punishment: white evangelicals (74 percent), white mainline Protestants (71 percent), white Catholics (68 percent), black Protestants (37 percent), Hispanic Catholics (43 percent).

-- Pew Research Center

Good Book?

"A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy" by Dr. Edward Sri

As Catholics, the Mass is the center of our faith. We celebrate it every day. We know all the responses. We know all the gestures. But do we know what it all means? Dr. Edward Sri takes us on a unique tour of the Liturgy. Based on the revised translation of the Mass, this book explores the biblical roots of the words and gestures we experience in the Liturgy and explains their profound significance. This intriguing look at the Mass is sure to renew your faith and deepen your love and devotion to the Eucharist.